Well, at the time, Obama was a little-known Illinois state senator and a lawyer, so his response wasn’t highly sought out.

But a small local newspaper, the Hyde Park Herald, did ask for written responses from a number of the neighborhood’s elected officials, including Obama.

He wrote:

“The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.”

What Obama was trying to couch in academic speech is that while, yes, these attacks were evil, we need to understand where the terrorists were coming from, and to accept that this attack could have come from anywhere.

He was excusing the attacks, and, true to form, strongly hinting that Islam had nothing to do with it.